


Boys and Ghouls

by BisexualGhoul



Category: My Babysitter's A Vampire
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Jealousy, M/M, Post-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:55:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29545470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BisexualGhoul/pseuds/BisexualGhoul
Summary: When Ethan accidentally awakens a ghost (again), the crew has to help him with his unfinished business.
Relationships: Ethan Morgan & Original Male Character(s), Ethan Morgan/Benny Weir, Sarah Fox/Erica Jones
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	1. Wake the Dead

Ethan wanders into the boys’ locker room nervously, peeking around the corners to ensure that he’s alone. It would be super embarrassing if someone heard what he was gonna do in here. 

Ever since his make up date with Sarah, he’s come to realize something about himself that he’d shoved deep into the recesses of his mind. The date was wonderful; they had a great time until they kissed in front of Ethan’s door after Sarah walked him home. It was like kissing his sister. He had immediately reeled back as Sarah confirmed his feelings with her own.

“Yeah. Definitely too weird.”

They had both sighed, and Ethan asked Sarah if she wanted to come in and talk about it. That had led to a long discussion during which Sarah confided in Ethan that she was bisexual and had known for some time. This led to Ethan asking how she knew, and Sarah told him it was different for everyone, but she had started looking at Erica differently sometime before they were both turned into vampires. This made Ethan think long and hard about how he felt about his own friends. He knew the way he felt about Benny was different from how he felt about Rory. For the longest time, he thought the difference was that he was closer to Benny than he was to Rory, but the more he thought about it, the greater the difference was.

Finding that he is, in fact, alone, Ethan takes a deep breath and begins working out what he’s going to say. Today is the day that he’s going to ask Benny out. There’s no way he can chicken out again.

“Heyyy Benny? Wait no why did that come out like a question? Ugh ok. Benny, my main man, how would you like to hang out with yours truly? Absolutely not. ‘My main man’? Who even says that? And we always hang out. He wouldn’t even realize I was asking him out!”

Ethan paces around the locker room, wrinkling his nose every so often at the pungent smell of sweat that permeates the room.

“Maybe I could try and compliment his eyes or something? Would he even like that sort of thing? Or maybe I could rework that lightsaber poem I wrote for Sarah? No way that would be stupid. This sucks.”

Ethan sits down on one of the benches facing a row of lockers, shoving a stray sock out of his way. 

“Maybe I just need to be direct?” Ethan steels himself with a nod and continues, “I-I like you more than a friend. Do you wanna go on a date with me sometime?”

That’s it. Plain and simple. Ethan smiles, feeling a lot more confident now that he knows what he’d going to say. He walks out of the locker room with a skip in his step. 

Unbeknownst to Ethan, the locker he was facing begins to glow, getting brighter with every passing moment. It reaches a peak and then fizzes out after a bright flash of blue light. A figure steps gingerly through the metal door, and looks longingly toward the locker room exit. He isn’t going to miss his chance. Not this time.

Meanwhile, Ethan makes his way down the hall. It’s lunch time and he knows Benny is probably gorging himself on french fries, one of the few things the school makes that isn’t disgusting. Not that it really mattered to Benny. The guy was like a human garbage disposal.

Shaking his head, Ethan rounds the corner and finds Sarah walking toward him from the opposite direction.

“Ethan! Hey, how’s it going?” Sarah asks, not wanting to pry but letting her curiosity show in her voice. Ethan had mentioned the night before that he was planning on asking Benny out today. 

“Not great. I still haven't done it yet but I know what I’m gonna say so I’m like 67% confident that I’ll actually gonna do it this time.” Ethan says, a bit embarrassed.

“I believe in you Ethan and if he says no, then it’s his loss, ok? You know Benny though, he’ll still be your friend no matter what. No one else is willing to put up with him,” she says with a playful eye roll.

“Yeah I know. He’s kind of obnoxious,” Ethan agrees with a smitten look on his face.

“Well, I’ve gotta get going. I promised Erica I’d help her study for her history midterm.”

“Oh, a study date huh?” Ethan teases good naturedly. 

Sarah hits him lightly on the arm, minding her vampire strength.

“We’re just studying!”

“Uh-huh. Well if things work out with Benny we’re definitely working on you and Erica next.”

“Mind your business, dork,” she says affectionately. “Good luck!”

“Thanks Sarah,” Ethan says with a short wave, continuing his journey to the cafeteria. 

He’s stopped in his tracks when a tall, nerdy guy walks out in front of him. Ethan startles back. He didn’t even hear this guy walking up, let alone see where he came from. It’s like he appeared out of thin air.

“Ethan?” The boy asks shyly, running a hand through his curly red hair.  
“Um, yeah? Do I know you?” he asks, squinting at the taller boy. There’s something strange about him. It’s like when he tries to focus on him, he’s less clear. Something isn’t right.

“About that…” the boy trails off, reaching out and laying a hand on Ethan’s arm. Ethan doesn’t have a chance to react before he’s pulled into a vision.

He sees this same guy laying on the floor. Ethan can see the bite marks in his neck, and he knows without being told that this guy isn’t going to get back up. A faded version of him sits up, separating from the body on the floor. He turns his head and looks Ethan in the eye.

The vision ends and Ethan pulls his arm out of the boy’s grasp, realizing as he did so that he couldn’t even feel his hand on his arm. 

Definitely a ghost, then.

“What-what do you want?” Ethan asks, backing up slowly. His previous encounters with ghosts had never ended well, and he wasn’t alone then. He wonders if it would be worth it to run after Sarah. Or maybe the cafeteria’s closer? Either way, Ethan is seconds from bolting.

“No no! Don’t be afraid! I’m not gonna hurt you. I just wanted to say that I’d love to.”

“Huh?” Ethan asks, mind going blank at the unexpected words.

“Uh, you’d love to _what_ , exactly?”

“Go out with you? The locker you were facing in the locker room was my old gym locker so when you asked me out, it woke me up I guess. Everything’s still kind of foggy but  
I know I’m a ghost and I know that you asked me out, so yeah?” he ends with a shrug.

Ethan stares at him confused. The ghost thought he asked him out when he was practicing asking out Benny? 

“I’ve--I’ve gotta go.”

Ethan bolts to the cafeteria. This isn’t a situation he was prepared for. Sure, he isn’t prepared for most of the situations Whitechapel throws his way but this is beyond weird. He can’t date a ghost!

He skids into the cafeteria, nearly slipping on his way in. His face reddens as he realizes multiple students are giving him weird looks for dashing into the cafeteria like he had demon pets nipping at his heels. He smiles awkwardly and walks stiffly to the table that Benny and Rory are sat at, arguing about some nerd topic or another. He drops down next to Benny, who slaps him on the back and starts to fill him in on the argument, but Ethan shushes him and gestures for both to lean in.

“Guys, we kind of have a situation.”

“Ugh again E? Come one I already told you, I can’t magic rashes away. It just causes like, a _super_ rash and--”

“Not that!” Ethan whispers harshly with a burning face, glancing at Rory whose expression is twisted into a disgusted frown.

“Then what?”

“We have a supernatural situation!”

“Cool! What is it this time? Is it a Loch Ness monster? Please let it be a Loch Ness monster!”

“No Rory, it’s not a Loch Ness monster...and even if it was it wouldn’t technically be a Loch Ness monster because it wouldn’t be in Loch Ness.”

“Aw man.”

“Never mind that! Focus Rory. I um, _might’ve_ accidentally summoned a ghost? Again.”

Rory and Benny groan in unison. Out of all the magical baddies Ethan could’ve unleashed, it just had to be the kind that was the most difficult to get rid of. You can’t exactly stake a ghost. You have to figure out its unfinished business which could be either grueling, in the case of Ethan’s ghost coach, or extremely dangerous in the case of Ethan’s haunted car.

Ethan is a bit mortified that he has to tell them at all but he doesn’t want to deal with it alone. He doesn’t want to have to tell them how it happened; even if he leaves out the part about Benny, it still sounds so lame. Inevitably, Benny asks.

“How did you do it this time? It’s not like the school has another trophy containing the evil spirit of a nerd-hating coach...do we?” he asks, furrowing his brow.

“No Benny, it wasn’t another cursed trophy,” Ethan says, rolling his eyes.

Ethan stands, encouraging the other two to do the same. They pick up their trays, dumping them on the way out of the cafeteria. They wander outside so they can talk privately about the ghost situation, not wanting to sound like freaks to the surrounding tables in the cafeteria. They sit under a tree in a mimicry of their seating in the cafeteria; Ethan and Benny side by side with Rory sitting across from them. 

“It was...well. It was some dude whose spirit came out of the boys’ locker room? I got a vision when he touched me and it looked like a vampire drained him.”

“Wait a minute what were you doing in the locker room? We don’t have P.E. until 5th period,” Benny points out suspiciously. Ethan hates the locker room. Every day they complain together about how it smells like sweaty jocks.

“That doesn’t really matter,” Ethan says. He knows he sounds defensive but he really doesn’t want to get into that.

“Hi again,” comes a voice in front of Ethan, who turns from Benny to look forward. He lets out a short scream when he sees the ghost guy sitting next to Rory. 

“Oh man is it here? Where is it?” Rory asks looking around them in interest.

“He’s--he’s right next to you Rory,” Ethan says, nervous about the ghost’s reappearance and wondering if he heard their conversation.

“Hi ghost dude! Are you gonna try and make Ethan do push-ups? ‘Cause he hasn’t really improved so I don’t think it’ll work.”

“Rory! He’s not another ghost coach!” Ethan exclaims in exasperation.

“Ghost coach?” asks the ghost.

“Long story. Why are you still here? Why haven’t you moved on yet?” Ethan asks, feeling much less fearful because of his friends’ presence.

“Long story,” he mimics wryly. 

“Did he say anything?” Benny asks, flipping through his spellbook.

“No, he’s being facetious.”

“Come on E you know I don’t understand your Honors English terms. Ah ha!” Benny exclaims, holding up a hand, preparing to cast a spell.

“Ghost visibility spell. This way, at least me and Rory will be able to see what you’re seeing.”

“ _Sanctus apparuit oculis_!”

Purple sparks shoot out from Benny’s hands aimed directly at the spirit, who flinches as if it could hurt him.

“Dude, you’re literally a ghost. What did you think that would do? Kill you twice?” Ethan grumbles, feeling a bit annoyed now that his plans to ask Benny out were ruined by such a dorky ghost. He isn’t even scary.

“Oh cool!” Rory shouts, reaching out to poke the ghost. He seems disappointed when his finger still goes through him.

Benny jumps a little. He knew the ghost was close but it was still a bit startling to suddenly see someone where there was literally thin air moments prior.

“That wasn’t too bad, I guess,” the ghost says sheepishly. 

“What?” Benny and Rory ask in unison. 

“Oh right. The spell lets us see the ghost, not hear him. Ok give me one sec.” Benny flips through his spellbook again and finally lands on the right spell.

“ _Venite audite et exspiravit_!”

Benny and Rory both wince as their ears pop violently. Rory pats his hand against his head as if he was trying to get water out of his ear.

“Can you hear me?” the spirit asks curiously.

“Loud and clear, my ghostly friend,” Benny responds, cracking his knuckles, “now, how can the supernatural experts help you move on? We’ve got a project to work on later and I cannot risk failing that class so let’s get a move on.”

“I want Ethan to go on a date with me,” the ghost responds simply.

“Haha Ethan has to date a dead guy!” Rory laughs.

“ _You’re_ a dead guy,” Ethan replies pointedly, leaning forward to shove Rory.

“Oh yeah,” Rory says thoughtfully, unaffected by Ethan’s attempt to shove him.

“Why exactly does Ethan need to go on a date with you?” Benny asks, an unreadable expression on his face.

“He asked me out, and also, my unfinished business might have something to do with what I had planned for the day I died.”

“Dude, why’d you ask out a ghost? And a dude ghost, at that?” Benny demands incredulously.

“I didn’t mean to! I was practicing asking...someone else. How was I supposed to know that there was a ghost in the locker I was facing?” Ethan steadfastly ignores the part about the spirit being a guy. He knows that he really didn’t choose to accidentally ask out a ghost dude, but it hit a bit too close to home for comfort.

“What were you planning the day you died?” Rory asked. For once, he was more interested in the supernatural being than his bickering friends.

“Well, I kind of had a crush on my best friend. We were really close, and at some point I sort of realized that what I was feeling went beyond friendship. I don’t really know what year it is now, but at that point it was 1992. It would’ve been a pretty big risk to ask him out but I was determined to do it anyway. I was in track and field, so I had a big locker instead of one of the little P.E. lockers. Inside, I had some note cards I’d written to figure out what I was gonna say to him. I wanted to practice, so I snuck in there during 7th period. I thought I was alone. I guess not.”

“Note cards? That's brilliant…” Ethan mutters to himself.

“What’d you say E?”

“Oh uh, nothing. Continue, ghost dude.”

“My name’s Charlie but anyway, there was some pale dude in there that I knew from chemistry and he attacked me so yeah. I think my unfinished business was that I never got to ask my friend out,” he finishes with a shrug.

“Ok so why does it have to be Ethan? Shouldn’t we just find your friend and you can ask him out?” 

“Benny, was it?” Benny nods. “Well Benny, what year is it?”

“It’s 2013.”

“Yeah, I don’t think he’s in Whitechapel anymore. You’re welcome to try, but I think Ethan is the perfect stand-in. You even look a bit like him, but I think his hair was a shade or two lighter…” Charlie trails off, reaching to brush a lock of hair from in front of Ethan’s face. This time, he’s corporeal, and Ethan reddens at the somewhat intimate touch.

“Ethan and Charlie sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g,” Rory sings teasingly. Considering the next couple of lyrics in the song, he then asks, “Wait if he’s already dead does that mean you can’t get married since death technically already did you part or..?”

“Who said anything about getting married!?” Ethan cries, embarrassed.

Before anyone can say anything else, the bell rings, signalling the end of lunch.

“Well!” Ethan starts, a bit too loudly, “Time for 5th period. Come on Benny.”

Ethan stands hastily, almost reaching down to help Benny up but chickening out at the last moment, slightly afraid that he’d be too obvious about his feelings if he touched the other boy’s hand.

“Can I walk you to class?” Charlie asks boldly.

“Well, you’d be walking both of us since Benny and I have P.E. together but yeah, I guess.”

Benny gives Ethan an unexpectedly sharp look as he hauls his heavy school bag onto his shoulder and starts walking briskly in the direction of the school. If Charlie notices, he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he offers Ethan his arm as if they were a young couple going to take a stroll in the park. Ethan looks at him incredulously and shakes his head, walking toward the entrance of the school with a pit growing in his stomach. Somehow, he pissed Benny off and now he has a dorky ghostly admirer. Gym class is going to be a blast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will probably be up soon. It's more or less finished I just have to polish it up. Let me know what you thought!


	2. Nerds of a Feather

Apparently, Charlie had taken Ethan’s grudging acceptance of his offer to walk him to class as permission to stick around. Ethan nearly gets nailed in the face with a dodgeball when he notices Charlie sitting in the bleachers, waving at him with a smile. The dodgeball misses him just barely. Instead, it’s Benny who gets hit. He falls backwards, landing on the ground with a thud and a groan. Ethan instinctively drops next to him to make sure he’s ok, but the distraction allows the other team to launch another ball at him. Ethan falls sideways next to Benny, but sits back up quickly rubbing his aching arm. He notices that Benny has a nosebleed, and the gym teacher lets him help Benny up and take him to the nurse.

“You sure you’re alright B?” Ethan asks, passing him another tissue.

They’re sitting in the nurse’s office and Ethan hopes that none of the school’s less friendly vamps can smell the blood. Benny still seems a little off, but he doesn’t seem mad anymore.

“I’m good Ethan. Nothing can stop Benny Weir, sorcerer supreme.”

“Sure thing, Doctor Strange.” Ethan mocks. 

“I feel like I’m more of a Magik than a Doctor Strange.”

“As if. You could never pull off those shorts.”

“Says you!”

Ethan grins, happy that the weirdness has subsided. Benny’s nose stops bleeding, and they get up to leave after he deposits a pile of bloody tissues in the small garbage can next to the door. Benny grudgingly washes his hands at Ethan’s vaguely disgusted badgering, and the bell rings just as they walk out the door. 

They stop by their lockers, and part ways to head to their respective 6th periods. As Ethan walks down the hall to his AP English class, he’s startled by a hand grabbing his elbow. He jumps away only to realize that it was just Sarah.

“Woah, no need for all that. You know I don’t bite,” she says with a wink, falling in step next to him.

“It’s not you I’m worried about.”

“What now? You don’t have _another_ were-dog following you around, do you?”

“No, this problem is a bit more spectral in nature.”

“Not again,” Sarah groans, “Maybe you should just avoid any objects that could potentially contain a ghost.”

“To be fair, that would probably be most things.”

“Probably. How did it happen this time?”

Ethan is a bit less self conscious about telling Sarah the full story; it’s easier when the person already knows that he’s bisexual. 

“Long story short, I was practicing asking Benny out and wound up accidentally asking out a ghost.”

“Yikes. Is it a cute ghost?”

“I don’t know! He’s tall and kind of dorky.”

“So completely your type then?”

“I don’t have a type. It’s--it’s just Benny.”

“I get it,” Sarah says wistfully. 

“Well, this is me,” Ethan says, gesturing to the classroom with his thumb.

They part ways with a wave from Ethan and a promise from Sarah to help him with his ghost predicament after school. Ethan takes his usual seat in the back of the room and starts pulling out his English note book. He’s struggling to find a pen in the midst of his messy backpack when one is suddenly set on his desk. He looks up, about to thank the person but stops when he realizes it’s Charlie. Ethan wants to get mad at him for getting him--and Benny--hit with a dodgeball, but he’s also hyper aware of the fact that he’d look nuts. He doesn’t need a repeat of the embarrassing things that happened during the Coach Ed incident, so he does his best to ignore Charlie. He goes back to digging in his backpack, eventually coming up with a ridiculously dull pencil. He picks up the pen Charlie put on his desk and sets it on the empty desk next to him.

“Harsh, man. I was just trying to help. I’m sorry about gym class.”

Ethan steadfastly ignores him, taking notes with his blunt pencil as if the themes in Catch-22 were the most interesting topics he’d ever heard. Charlie sighs, and sits in the desk next to him. He doesn’t say anything for the rest of the class, but Ethan has a hard time ignoring his presence regardless. When the bell rings, Ethan stands up so fast that he gets a couple of weird looks, but he doesn’t care. He shoves his notebook and pencil in his backpack and rushes out. He has his next class with Rory, and he’d prefer listening to him chatter about Vampire Sasquatch than sit in silence next to a ghost with a propensity for staring.

Charlie seems to get the message for the time being, and disappears before Ethan can bother telling him to leave. His last two classes are relatively peaceful. He dodges Rory’s increasingly pestering questions about Charlie during history and avoids Benny’s curious looks during AP calculus. By the end of 8th period, Ethan is exhausted and just wants to go home and play video games with Benny. Unfortunately, his problem returns the second he leaves the AP calc classroom. Ethan is proud of himself when he doesn’t jump at Charlie’s sudden appearance

Sarah pops up next to him as well before Charlie can say anything, and Ethan is relieved until he remembers that Sarah can’t actually see the ghost.

“Oh uh, Sarah, he’s right next to me.”

“Ok, hi spirit guy.”

“Charlie,” the spirit corrects.

“Charlie,” Ethan repeats, having forgotten to tell Sarah his name earlier.

“We should probably find Benny. He’s got some spells that will let you hear and see Charlie.”

“It’s a little weird that he’s not here already,” Sarah comments offhandedly.

“Yeah, actually it is.”

Benny usually swings by Ethan’s classroom after 8th period so they can walk home together, so it’s a bit strange that he hasn’t come by already. Ethan shrugs, and he and Sarah walk down the hall so Ethan can grab a book from his locker. When they get there, they see exactly why Benny hadn’t met Ethan after class.

Benny is leaning fake-casually against some lockers as he chats up a girl from their biology class. Ethan feels a little sick to his stomach as he watches, and Sarah shoots him a pitying look. For his part, Charlie looks between Benny and Ethan with surprise, not having made the connection prior to that moment. He decides not to voice his epiphany, not wanting Ethan to feel worse about his feelings for his best friend. He hadn’t realized that he and Ethan had that in common.

“Ethan…” Sarah trails off, not quite knowing how to comfort him.

“Don’t worry about it Sarah. He’s not my boyfriend. He can do whatever he wants.”

“I know but still. I know how you feel.”

Ethan knows she does, and that’s why her sympathy feels less embarrassing than anyone else's would.

“So do I. Feels like shit, huh?” Charlie pipes up from next to him, crossing his arms and leaning against the lockers in an unconscious mimicry of Benny.

To Charlie and Sarah’s surprise, that startles a laugh out of Ethan. 

“You know what? Yeah, it does.”

And it makes Ethan think; maybe it _wouldn’t_ be so bad to go on a date with this guy. He’s by far the most friendly ghost he’d ever dealt with, and he understands what it’s like to be in love with your best friend. As much as he would deny it to Sarah, Charlie is also kind of his type. 

Before he can think about it much further, Benny comes waltzing over looking like the cat that ate the canary. When he reaches them, he holds up a piece of paper triumphantly. 

“Check who got that chick’s phone number! Score!”

Sarah inspects the paper for a second and snorts.

“Benny, that literally just has a number 4 on it,” Ethan says.

“What?” he shouts, looking at it closely. “Aw man!”

Ethan laughs, feeling a lot better about the whole situation. He’s not happy that Benny struck out per se, but it gives him just the slightest bit of hope. It would definitely be awkward to ask him out if he had a girlfriend.

Benny wads the paper up and throws it in the trash, no worse for wear after the mostly expected rejection.

“So, to Ethan’s then so we can look up ghost romeo’s little soulmate?” Benny asks, starting to walk.

“Yeah, sure,” Ethan says, even though he’s tempted to just go on the date and be done with it. He decides they might as well try plan A before Ethan jumps right into plan B.

“I’m telling you, I don’t think he’d be interested even if he was still in Whitechapel. Which he probably isn’t. He hated it here,” Charlie asserts, absentmindedly kicking at a leaf but passing right through it.

“I wonder why,” Sarah says sardonically, “could it be the monsters that seem to appear every week? Or maybe the weather?”

“I never even knew monsters existed until that guy attacked me. Whitechapel is just a boring little town with nothing going for it. Who wouldn’t wanna get out of here?”

“Not true! We just got a Lotta Latte and that Dusk dude visited once!”

Ethan and Benny jump as Rory suddenly appears in front of them, and Sarah’s fangs pop instinctively at the shock.

Charlie sees Rory and Sarah’s fangs and his eyes widen with fear. He flickers out of existence for a moment, reappearing a couple of feet away.

“Oh! No Sarah is a good vampire! And so is Rory. Neither of them bite people I promise,” Ethan assures him.

“What does he even have to be afraid of? He’s literally dead,” Benny says with an eye roll.

“Yeah and he was killed by a vampire. _Violently_ ,” Ethan says harshly. He walks over to where Charlie stands, looking less afraid than before but still suspicious of the two vampires.

“Sarah sacrificed her humanity to save my life, and Rory is like, way too nice to kill someone,” Ethan says gently. Charlie studies his face and seems to decide that Ethan is telling the truth. He smiles at Ethan and they both walk back to the others.

“Sorry for scaring you man. My b,” Rory says sincerely.

“It’s--it’s ok. I guess being asleep or whatever didn’t give me much of an opportunity to process what happened.”

They continue to Ethan’s house in relative silence, broken every so often by Rory making the occasional comment about his day. When they arrive, they find a note on the fridge saying that Samantha is out taking Jane for a haircut. Ross is still at work, so they have plenty of time to figure out what to do about Charlie’s unfinished business.

Ethan fires up his computer while Rory jumps onto his bed. Benny and Sarah sit on either side of Ethan, and Charlie lurks behind him, looking at his computer in awe.

“It’s so fast! And the image is so crisp!”

“Yeah I guess the computers you’re used to were a lot less advanced than this one,” Ethan says with a chuckle.

“Maybe later I can show you how much video games have changed.”

“Cool! The last video game I played was Metroid on NES. Is that still a thing?”

“Not really. I think you’ll like the games my Xbox One has to offer though.”

“Looking forward to it,” Charlie says, a soft smile replacing his overexcitement.

Ethan blushes, realizing that it almost sounded like they were planning a date. Benny seems to think the same thing, as he chimes in seconds after Ethan’s realization.

“Uh, I thought we were gonna try to hook him up with his friend first? Unless you want to go on a date with Casper here,” Benny says, trying to sound jovial but botching the delivery. He ends up sounding a bit tense, and Sarah gives him a strange look from Ethan’s other side. Ethan frowns but says nothing, turning back to his computer to try and track down Charlie’s friend.

“What was his name?” Ethan asks, quickly realizing that he has no idea who he’s supposed to be googling.

“Oh right, his name is Dana Johnson,” Charlie says, finally looking away from Ethan and back toward the computer.

Ethan types out ‘dana johnson whitechapel’ and finds nothing aside from a single newspaper article from 1994.

“Local high school senior Dana Johnson organizes the first annual Whitechapel High blood drive for his senior project,” Ethan reads aloud, skimming the rest of the article for any relevant details. He notices that the picture used for the article doesn’t include a picture of Dana, just a picture of a room set up for the drive with a large banner reading “Blood Drive Today”. Below the picture is a description, followed by a sentence that makes Ethan slightly suspicious. 

_Johnson requested not to be photographed_.

Ethan immediately thinks vampire, but backtracks as quickly as the thought enters his head. Not everyone is a vampire just because they don’t want to get their picture taken. He and Benny had literally petitioned to use their avatars for their school photos. Dana was probably just camera shy. He did organize a blood drive though and combined with the lack of photo, it is more than a little suspicious. He doesn’t say anything though; he doesn’t think Charlie would take it well.

“So, no social media then? Nothing that could help us figure out where he ended up?” Sarah asks.

“Doesn’t look like it. The guy’s a total ghost. Oh um, no offense,” Ethan adds awkwardly, turning to look back at Charlie.

“None taken,” he replies with a shrug.

“Maybe we can check out the library and see if there are any more articles about him?” Sarah offers. She glances at her watch and frowns.

“It’s getting late and I promised to make some flash cards to help Erica study more tomorrow. How about we hit the library after school and see what we can find?” She stands and pulls her backpack onto her shoulder, waving as she walks out into the hall.

“Sounds good. Benny, Rory, did you guys wanna stay for dinner?” Ethan asks.

“I think I’ll go see if Erica needs a hunting partner. I could use a squirrel or three. Later guys!”

With that, Rory jumps off the bed and out the window to pester Erica.

Benny looks like he wants to say no, but then looks suspiciously between Ethan and Charlie.

“Sure E. Let me just call Grandma real quick and see if she’ll let me sleep over too if that’s ok.”

“Of course it is, you know you’re always welcome here,” Ethan says, realizing too late that he said it a bit too tenderly.

If Benny notices, he doesn’t say anything. He simply smiles and pulls out his phone as he walks out into the hall for privacy. Regardless of the door between them, Ethan can hear Benny spinning a yarn about the evil ghost he needs to help Ethan get rid of. Charlie hears this too, and looks at Ethan with a raised eyebrow. 

“Benny tends to be a little dramatic.”

“Yeah no kidding,” he wanders around Ethan’s room, admiring his various collector’s items.

“Woah is this a vintage hand painted Star Wars Luke Skywalker x-wing pilot action figure? I had one of these too! I wonder where it ended up…”

“Yeah it’s pretty cool, huh?” Ethan says, walking up to the bookshelf Charlie is inspecting.

They meet eyes, and Ethan realizes he’s in Charlie’s spectral personal bubble. There’s an awkward pause before Ethan decides to try and make small talk.

“So what’s your favorite Star Wars movie?”

Charlie lights up, excited to talk about one of his favorite franchises but Benny comes back in and looks at them with his eyebrows furrowed.

“Hey Ethan, your mom came up to tell you dinner’s ready. Grandma said I could stay.”

“Oh ok right. Uh, Charlie, you can stay up here if you want. Help yourself to the comic books,” he says, taking note of how Charlie is eyeing them longingly.

“Thanks E!” Charlie says, reaching out immediately for an X-Men comic.

Ethan, too busy looking at the comic Charlie chose, doesn’t see the flash of annoyance that crosses Benny’s features. Benny turns and stomps down the stairs, not waiting for Ethan. Ethan gives Charlie a thumbs up and trails after his best friend, mentally flipping through his video game collection and wondering which one the spirit would enjoy. He’s a bit excited at the prospect of having a new friend to talk nerd stuff with, even if this all ends with Charlie moving on.


	3. A Vision in Fright

Ethan wakes the next morning feeling refreshed, but uncomfortably warm. He realizes that he and Benny fell asleep playing video games again. They had been sitting side by side on Ethan’s bed, as much space between them as was possible on the twin. Charlie had sat on the floor at the end of the bed, alternating between playing and watching depending on how corporeal he was at the moment. He had realized early on that he was only able to be solid for a little while at a time, and contented himself with watching the incredible graphics of Halo: Spartan Assault from the sidelines. At some point, Ethan and Benny must’ve fallen asleep, and from the looks of it, they had inched closer to each other during the night.

Ethan is on his side angled toward Benny, his head just shy of the other boy’s chest. Benny is on his back, but his right arm is wrapped around Ethan’s shoulders. Despite the warmth radiating off of his friend, a chill shoots through Ethan’s body. This has happened before, but not since Ethan had realized his feelings for Benny. It’s weird now; it almost feels like he’s taking advantage of his friend. He knows he didn’t choose to snuggle up to him, but it doesn’t matter because he likes it and Benny probably doesn’t feel the same way.

Gently, Ethan pulls himself out from under Benny’s arm. For once, he’s thankful that he woke up before his alarm went off. He slides out of the bed, ready to go brush his teeth and start his morning when he notices Charlie on the floor in front of the bed.

Ethan had forgotten that the ghost was there, so when he sees him he lets out a surprised shout. Charlie startles, flailing as he springs away from his latest comic book. He had been reading all night, both due to wanting to catch up on the latest issues and to distract himself from the fact that he can’t actually sleep anymore, which is a bummer since sleeping was one of his favorite pastimes.

Benny shoots up in bed, fists raised. He looks groggy, but his hands are glowing as he shouts.

“Wha--? Where’s the monster? I got it!”

Magic shoots from his hand on instinct, hitting Ethan’s bookshelf.

“Benny no!” Ethan scolds loudly, checking to see if anything was harmed. A group of action figures are melted into the wooden shelf, and Ethan would probably be more impressed if he wasn’t so mad.

“Aw come on! It took me a whole summer of mowing lawns to pay for those!”

“Huh? Oh man I’m sorry Ethan. You screamed! I totally thought there was some sort of terrifying monster attacking us,” Benny says with a wince. He remembers how much work Ethan put into building that collection and he really does feel bad.

“Maybe I can fix them! Hold on let me see what I’ve got,” he says, lunging for the spellbook he left laying on the ground.

“You really think I’d let you try to fix inanimate objects with magic again after what happened with Debbie Dazzle? Just forget it Benny,” Ethan says with a sigh. 

“You can’t pin that on me! It was all Jane’s fault.”

Charlie looks between the two, wondering what exactly Benny had done to a Debbie Dazzle doll and how Ethan’s sister was involved.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m gonna go get ready for school. Please don’t use any magic while I’m gone.”

With that, Ethan grabs some clothes and walks into the bathroom. Benny hears the shower start, and looks back over at Charlie, who’s staring back at Benny and looks very out of place after his and Ethan’s disagreement.

“What are you looking at?” Benny asks rudely. He crosses his arms and frowns. This is all Charlie’s fault! Things had been weird with Ethan ever since he summoned the stupid ghost and now Ethan is mad at him.

Charlie doesn’t take it personally and just shrugs, deciding that Benny could use a bit of alone time. He disappears, deciding to head to school early and wander around. Maybe he can find some old class photos somewhere…

Benny watches the ghost disappear and narrows his eyes. _If that little ghost weirdo went to creep on Ethan in the shower, I’m gonna find a spell that_ will _kill him twice_ , Benny thinks viciously. Because he cares about his friend, obviously. He knocks on the door to the bathroom, ignoring what sounds like Ethan startling and dropping a shampoo bottle.

“I’m gonna head over to Grandma’s for a change of clothes, alright E? I’ll meet you outside!” Benny shouts.

“Ok!” Ethan yells in reply. He doesn’t sound angry anymore but it’s hard for Benny to tell from one word. He grabs his backpack and quietly descends the stairs.

Ethan finishes showering and get dressed for the day. After brushing his teeth, he grabs his backpack and heads out to meet Benny. When he gets outside, he frowns at Charlie’s absence. He had been looking forward to getting his opinion on the comics he’d been reading; Ethan definitely has some thoughts of his own.

“Charlie isn’t with you?” Ethan asks.

“No, I guess he had better things to do,” Benny says rolling his eyes, “He disappeared pretty quickly after you went to shower.”

Ethan isn’t sure why Benny says it with such contempt; he thought they were all getting along well the night before. Though now that he thinks about it, Benny never spoke directly to Charlie. He even went out of his way to ignore the ghost boy. Ethan figures that Benny is just wary of trusting any ghost after the encounters they’ve had. It’s understandable all things considered.

“Oh, ok,” Ethan says, starting to walk.

“So, you and Slimer seem to get along pretty well,” Benny says, tone overly casual.

“Uh, yeah I guess. He’s nice and he’s got awesome taste in comic books. If we were going to school at the same time, we probably would’ve been friends,” Ethan replies honestly.

“Friends, huh?”

As he waited for Ethan, Benny had been thinking about the circumstances leading up to Ethan accidentally waking Charlie from his dirt nap. He knows Ethan isn’t into Sarah anymore. Ethan hadn’t given him too many details about their second--and last--date, no matter how much Benny pestered him. It was suspicious, but he had been willing to let it go after Ethan fixed him with his notorious puppy eyes. If Ethan doesn’t like Sarah like that anymore, then who was he practicing asking out? Why didn’t Ethan tell him he likes someone? An uncomfortable feeling rises in his chest. It’s as if Ethan doesn’t trust him enough to talk to him. Which doesn’t make any sense, as Ethan never hesitated to tell him about his crushes before, no matter how embarrassing they were. 

Benny feels like he’s verging on some sort of conclusion, but he just doesn’t know what. 

Ethan doesn’t know why Benny is being so weird about this. It wouldn’t be the first time they befriended a supernatural being. Charlie is no more dangerous than David Stachowski turned out to be, and David hadn’t even been that much fun to hang out with. Though Benny had been less excited about the friendship aspect than he was about the perks that came with David’s friendship. Just because Charlie can’t help Benny pick up girls or become popular doesn’t mean he isn’t cool in his own way.

Ethan gears up to tell him as much, but Rory pops up in front of them with a loud “Wazzzzzuuuup” aimed directly in their faces. Benny replies half-heartedly and Ethan gives the vampire a slightly limp high five.

“So, where’s our new ghoul-friend?” Rory asks excitedly.

“I wanted to ask if he’d be willing to help me get back at this lame teacher that gave me detention for--”

“Man why is everyone so into this guy? He’s literally just the ghost version of us!” Benny exclaims.

“‘Cause he has cool ghost powers like being invisible and stuff.” Rory replies earnestly, not cluing in to Benny’s poor mood.

“Ok B, you seriously need to chill out. Charlie seems like a decent dude who just wants to complete his unfinished business and move on to the afterlife. Why are you being such a jerk about this?”

“I’m being a jerk? You’re the one who just decided willy nilly that he’s harmless! What if he’s dangerous and trying to lure us into a trap? Or maybe he’s just trying to take advantage of you with all of that “going on a date” crap. Why would he even want to date you?” Benny explodes. It occurs to him that the last part came out wrong, and he quickly backtracks.

“I--uh, I just meant that like, you’re straight so it’s not like you’ll actually enjoy going on a date with him so why is he even bothering?” he asks awkwardly, suddenly not 100% sure about why he’s even mad.

Ethan feels like he has whiplash. He hadn’t been expecting this line of conversation. The “Charlie potentially being dangerous” part, sure, but not “Charlie must have ulterior motives if he wants to date _you_ ” bit. Or the “accused out loud of being straight and not knowing whether to correct him or not” bit.

Rory looks stupefied, glancing rapidly between Ethan and Benny with his mouth hanging open.

“I’m...gonna go see what the girls are up to. Yeah,” Rory says, dashing off with his vamp speed.

Ethan isn’t sure how to respond, so he just keeps walking, hoping that they can just move on and he can process what happened later. He thinks he’s hurt, but he doesn’t want to analyze those feelings right now, not when he has to make through an entire day at school.

Benny knows Ethan is giving him an out, and that makes him feel worse. He doesn’t know why he said that. It seems unnecessarily cruel now that he’s actually thinking about it. He has no right to be mad at Ethan. He’s his friend, and if he wants to keep certain things to himself then it’s none of Benny’s business and he should respect that. He can’t find it in himself to say so out loud; the silence between them is tense and he fears that if he oversteps and says something wrong, he’ll lose his friend. So he stays silent and follows a step behind Ethan, staring so intently at the back of his head that he doesn’t notice the uneven bit of sidewalk until it’s too late.

Benny lets out a yelp as he trips and falls, taking Ethan down with him. Ethan has little time to react, barely sticking his arms out in time to catch himself but getting crushed under Benny anyway. Both boys lay on the ground for a short moment, Ethan with the air knocked out of him and Benny disoriented and wondering how he wound up on top of his friend.

“You ok, E?” Benny asks, getting on his hands and knees so he isn’t laying on top of Ethan anymore. He helps Ethan turn over onto his back and checks him over for injuries. Ethan is still trying to catch his breath, so it takes him a second to react to Benny being so close. He comes back to himself when Benny grabs his hands, holding his palms up to inspect the scrapes he got from catching himself. Ethan sucks in a breath, and tenses as a vision floods his senses.

 _Benny is looking down at him, expression furious. He’s angrier than Ethan has ever seen him, and the anger is directed at him. Benny holds up his hands, magic building in them until they reach a fever pitch, blinding him and bringing him out of the vision_.

“...got this man, don’t worry.”

Ethan doesn’t respond, still shaken from his vision. He almost jumps out of his skin when Benny’s hands begin to glow as he speaks.

“Corpus curare!”

Ethan’s eyes are squeezed shut, but he opens them when he realizes that he doesn’t feel any pain. Quite the opposite, actually, as his hands feel soothed where they had been torn up by the concrete.

“Oh don’t look like that. I’m not _that_ bad at magic!” Benny exclaims, misinterpreting Ethan’s reaction as fear of him messing up the spell.

“Uh, yeah sure Benny. We’re gonna be late. Come on,” Ethan says tersely, still reeling from his vision of being on the business end of Benny’s unhinged, rage fueled magic. Benny healing him had calmed him a little, but he still felt tense, as if waiting for his friend to attack. He knows that his visions are often incomplete, and that Benny would never hurt him without a very, very good reason, but it was still terrifying to have seen that particular look on Benny’s face aimed at him. 

He gets up after gently but firmly pushing at Benny, who is still hovering over him. Benny scrambles away, clearing his throat, as if suddenly seized by some sort of teenage boy no homo instinct. Ethan rolls his eyes, and stands up, adjusting his backpack. He turns and keeps walking toward the school, picking up his pace when he glances at his watch and sees that the first bell will ring in 5 minutes. He hears Benny pick up his book bag and speed walk after him. 

They arrive at school just in time for the bell to ring. They hurry to their lockers, grabbing what they need for their respective classes and go their separate ways without a word.

As Ethan sinks into his seat, he turns his head at the appearance of a familiar specter in the empty desk next to him. He isn’t startled this time, and he actually smiles at Charlie, somewhat thankful for his quiet presence. Charlie smiles back and turns to look at the teacher as if he’s genuinely interested in learning about Health. Ethan wonders if it’s a comfort for Charlie to pretend he’s still a normal student going to class. The thought leaves Ethan feeling a bit sad, and he focuses on the teacher, knowing it won’t do any good to think about that now. 

The rest of the day passes in much the same way, with Ethan and Benny interacting awkwardly and Charlie following Ethan from class to class. Ethan hates how out of place he feels with Benny. He isn’t necessarily afraid of him, but he isn’t looking forward to whatever leads up to the events of his vision. For once, he’d like for a supernatural problem to be easy to solve.

After school, he and Benny walk quietly to the library. Benny practically hums with nervous energy, obviously wanting to talk about whatever is going on between them. Ethan wills him to stay quiet; he just wants to help Charlie out so he can finally have some time to himself to think. Sarah meets them there, showing up about 10 minutes later with an irritated Erica in tow. She tells them that Rory will show up a bit later, having gotten distracted by a particularly juicy looking chipmunk on the way.

They decide to split up, with Sarah and Erica looking through some microfilm for more local news articles and Benny, Ethan, and Charlie looking through a collection of yearbooks. Charlie immediately brightens when he sees the Whitechapel High 1991-1992 yearbook. He focuses on being solid so he can grab the book, sitting down on the ground to start flipping through it. He comes to a section titled “Sophomore Portraits”. He flips a couple of pages and makes a triumphant sound, pointing at a picture of himself.

Ethan crouches down to take a look, leaving Benny to grab the two subsequent yearbooks. _Charles O’Bannon_. There’s a quote under his name: “ _Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering_.” Ethan recognizes the quote immediately. His eyes flicker back to the picture of Charlie, and he’s a bit startled to find that he thinks he looks handsome. Without thinking, he says as much out loud.

“You really think so?” Charlie asks, sounding surprised.

Benny looks up from the 1992-1993 yearbook, confusion written on his features as he stares at Ethan.

“Yeah! And I like your quote,” Ethan says shyly, looking up from the yearbook at Charlie, who looks like he’d be blushing if he were capable of doing so.

“Thanks! It was kind of my way of sticking it to homophobes. Even if it’s not all that obvious.”

“No no, I totally get it,” Ethan assures him.

Benny is still staring at him, and Ethan is a bit afraid that Benny will catch on or that Charlie will accidentally say something that outs him. But Benny just shakes his head for a second and looks back down, studying the page he’s on. Ethan’s heart sinks. He doesn’t know how to interpret that. Charlie pats his shoulder and gives him a sympathetic smile, and for the second time that day, Ethan feels grateful for his presence.

Sarah and Erica walk quickly into the room they’re in, Sarah looking worried and Erica looking pensive. 

“What’d you find?” Ethan asks, almost afraid to find out from the looks on their faces.

“So we found an old article about Charlie and Dana winning the 1991 Whitechapel High Science Fair and uh, Erica..?” Sarah prompts.

“Yeah, so I totally recognize that guy.”

Ethan pulls Erica to the side, not wanting Charlie to hear what he’s about to say.

“Oh no, please tell me you haven’t drained him,” Ethan pleads.

“What? I don’t drain _every_ guy I see. Not that I even could in this case, which you would know if you let me finish,” Erica hisses, pushing Ethan back to the others.

“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I recognize him because I’ve seen him at Vampire Council events. He’s _one of us_.”


	4. Fanging Out

If Charlie wasn’t already pale as a ghost, he certainly is now. Ethan’s eyes are wide; his intuition was correct and he’s never wanted to be wrong so bad. 

“How...how could this have happened?” Charlie asks, his form flickering momentarily, as if his shock is interrupting his ability to stay visible. 

“How should I know? It’s not like I asked him for his life story; I’ve barely said three words to the guy. He’s not even that hot,” Erica says flippantly.

“Erica!” Sarah hisses.

Erica looks at her questioningly, then looks back at Charlie, finally taking note of the pain on his face. When she turns back to Sarah, her face has softened a bit. Sarah’s imploring face seals the deal, and Erica resigns herself to an afternoon of searching for the not-even-that-hot vampire. 

Ethan reaches out to Charlie on instinct, wanting to comfort him with a hand on his shoulder but missing the mark as his hand falls through the spirit. 

“Hey guys! What’d I miss?” Rory asks, wiping chipmunk blood off of his mouth with the sleeve of his black hoodie. He notes the looks on everyone’s faces and his own face falls.

“Who died?”

“Dana. Kind of,” Benny replies.

Ethan shoots them both a look before approaching Sarah and Erica. 

“Do you think you guys could try and track him down? You know, if Charlie still wants to..?” Ethan adds in Charlie’s direction.

“I--yeah. Yeah,” Charlie says a bit shakily. He knows that there are good vampires like Rory and Sarah, so he desperately hopes that Dana is one too.

“Of course. We’ve got this,” Sarah assures them both, grabbing Erica’s hand as they both dash away with their vampire speed.

“I guess, uh, that we don’t really need these anymore,” Benny says awkwardly, gathering the year books to return to their proper places on the shelf.

“You know, vampires can actually be pretty cool!” Rory says, wanting to make Charlie feel better.

“We can fly and move super fast and some of us are like, really nice. Like me and Sarah! Erica not so much, but she’s not too bad. And she’s hot so there’s that. There are definitely mean vampires but we specialize in taking the bad ones down! That’s how our squad got together actually. So it all started when I was invited to this _awesome_ vampire party, only I didn’t actually know it was a vampire party at the time…” Rory starts, beginning to explain how their friendship with the girls happened from his point of view. Charlie’s face morphs from upset to confused, to eventually looking like he’s on the edge of his metaphorical seat. Ethan tunes him out, having lived the vaguely traumatic events Rory is detailing.

Benny is flipping through his spellbook, studying different entries intently. 

“What are you looking for?” Ethan asks, trying to peak at the book. He wants to move past the awkwardness with the other boy. He’s still a bit wary of his vision coming to life, and of Benny’s comments regarding him and Charlie, but Benny is his friend and it doesn’t feel right to be walking on eggshells around him. He’s been doing so well acting as normal as possible around Benny in spite of his feelings; he doesn’t want to lose his friend and he’ll do what he can to prevent that.

“Nothing!” Benny shouts conspicuously, slamming the spellbook shut. 

Ethan’s eyebrows shoot into his hairline and Rory and Charlie pause their storytime to look over at them in confusion. 

“Ok,” Ethan says, holding his hands up placatingly, “I didn’t know it was a secret.”

Rory launches back into his tale, but Charlie looks at them for a beat longer. Ethan returns the looks with a small smile and a shrug, and Charlie smiles back before returning his attention to the vampire next to him.

Benny frowns and sighs, opening the book back up.

“Look E,” he says, lowering his tone so Charlie is sure to not hear them, “If we aren’t able to get rid of him the old fashioned way, then we might have to turn to more... _arcane_ methods.”

“Arcane methods, man, seriously? It’s not like Charlie’s hurting anyone. We don’t need to banish him from the mortal plane or whatever you have planned! And even if the thing with Dana doesn’t work out there’s still...plan B.”

“Plan B is you going out with a dude who’s also a ghost. We’re not gonna make you do that, Ethan. I’m sure we can find a magical solution to our problem. Grandma probably has some sort of ghost repellant or something.”

“Nobody--nobody’s _making_ me do anything,” Ethan says awkwardly.

“I _want_ to help him.”

Benny’s getting that confused and slightly suspicious look on his face again, and Ethan panics momentarily. He can’t believe he thought he was ready to ask Benny out. Even the thought of him finding out Ethan likes boys is terrifying. Maybe it’s the lack of control. He feels like it would be easier if he could just say it instead of letting Benny put together the pieces by himself. He braces for Benny to call him out on it, but instead, Benny just shrugs.

“Whatever, man. I just...don’t want you to be uncomfortable,” he admits.

A tension Ethan hadn’t even realized he was carrying dissipates. Benny isn’t mad at him or weirded out; he’s _concerned_. Ethan feels like a jerk for being afraid of his best friend. 

“Don’t worry, Ben. If I was uncomfortable about any of this you’d be the first to know. I promise,” Ethan says sincerely, patting Benny’s shoulder.

“Good,” Benny says simply. He looks a little embarrassed and Ethan doesn’t blame him. As close as they are, most of their conversations aren’t very serious, and it isn’t often that they admit out loud the degree to which they care about each other. Ethan resolves that he’ll come out to Benny first instead of jumping straight into asking him on a date. It’ll probably have to wait until all of this is over, but Ethan doesn’t mind the extra time to sort himself out first.

“Wow, that was...a lot,” Charlie says, eyes wide as he internalizes everything Rory told him.

“I know! We’re basically life superheroes! Except for Ethan. His powers aren’t really good for fighting.”

“Hey!” Ethan says from his place next to Benny.

“My powers are super impressive, thank you very much. Benny’s grandma has been helping me develop them! I can go into people’s minds. That could totally be used for fighting.”

“Ok, pull out some Professor X level skills and then we’ll talk,” Rory says, rolling his eyes.

Ethan is about to retort when Benny seems to find whatever spell he was looking for. He bookmarks it, before continuing to look for something else. Ethan wants to tell him to forget it, but as long as they can get Charlie to move on naturally, they won’t need to use it anyway. So Ethan ignores him, shaking his head. 

“Do you guys want to go back to my place?” Ethan asks. There’s no reason to stay in the library; Sarah will text him if she and Erica are able to track down Dana. Everyone nods and they walk toward the exit.

“Has your mom baked anything good recently?” Rory asks, thinking with his stomach in spite of not actually needing to eat.

“Uh I think there might be some leftover pie in the fridge?” Ethan offers. 

“Sweet!” Rory shouts, then turning to Charlie he asks, “Do you want to see what it feels like to fly with a vampire?”

Charlie looks uncertain, but accepts when Ethan shoots him an encouraging thumbs up. He focuses on becoming completely solid, and hangs onto Rory who bear hugs him and zips out of the library. Ethan and Benny hear Charlie’s ensuing scream until they get too far for them to hear. They look at each other and shake their heads, walking to Ethan’s house at a leisurely pace and joking with each other like they usually do. It’s comfortable, and Ethan’s grateful for it. 

They arrive at Ethan’s house to find Rory and Charlie waiting outside. Apparently, Ethan’s parents aren’t home and Jane is at a Mole Troop meeting, so there was no one there to let them in. Well, to let Rory in. But Charlie didn’t want to go in without him, or rather, without Ethan since it’s his house. So they waited for Ethan and Benny, chatting about their most controversial Star Trek opinions.

They all go in and Rory helps himself to some day old pie. They decide to play video games until the girls get back, and spend the next hour eating junk food and shouting at the tv.

* * *

“This is so not how I wanted to spend my Friday afternoon,” Erica complains.

“Me either, but this is important,” Sarah insists, looking around the abandoned ruins of the vampire council building. They had no idea where to even begin looking for Dana, so Sarah suggested they check the building for vampire census information. The Council kept track of all active vampires in the area, so there have to be some form of records lying around. They sift through rubble and dust, trying to find whatever’s left of the archive. Erica huffs every so often, picking bits of dirt and debris out from under her nails with a small pout.

“Got it!” Sarah shouts, holding up a thick, leather bound ledger. She wipes some dirt off of the outside with her sleeve before opening it up.

Erica comes up behind her, glad to be done digging around in the dirt. She peers over Sarah’s shoulder, resting a hand on her arm. Sarah tenses minutely, thankful that she hasn’t had blood recently or else she’d flush from the contact. Erica squeezes her arm and gives her a questioning look. Sarah realizes she’s been staring at the index for too long, and clears her throat, beginning to flip through the tome. She finally reaches the ‘J’ section under the Contact Information chapter, and finds Dana with relative ease. She pulls out her phone and takes a picture of the address. 

“Atta girl,’ Erica says affectionately, slapping Sarah on the back and starting to walk toward the woods.

Sarah looks after her longingly, stuffing her phone in her pocket. Erica whips around, making a ‘hurry up’ motion with her hand. Sarah snaps out of it, rolling her eyes as she follows after Erica. She shoots Ethan a text that they’re on their way and she and Erica jump into the air, flying to Ethan’s.

Meanwhile, Ethan, Benny, Rory, and Charlie have barely gotten started on a new round of Super Smash Bros. Brawl when they hear a knock on the window. Ethan hops up to open it, ignoring how Rory instantly starts attacking his character in his absence. He opens the window to see an annoyed Sarah and Erica.

“We waited at the front door for like, 5 minutes!” Sarah says.

“Don’t you dweebs ever check your phones?” Erica asks, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

Ethan pulls out his phone with a frown, taking note of the multiple texts from both girls.

“Sorry, we were kind of in the middle of a heated game,” Ethan says, embarrassed. His apology is punctuated by an angry shout from Benny, and a whoop from Charlie, who has just won the round. 

“Looks like you're finished,” Sarah says, “Can we get back to business?”

“Oh, yeah. Did you find the address?”

“Would we be here if we didn’t?” Erica snarks.

Ethan makes a face at her and nods in Sarah’s direction in thanks when he notices her texting the address to him. While the other guys debate starting another round, Ethan goes to his computer to check Google Maps for Dana’s address. Sarah and Erica follow him, standing behind him and leaning over to see the screen properly. It’s an apartment in a small building on the outskirts of town. 

“Hey,” Ethan says, getting the guys’ attention.

“We’ve got the address. Benny, grab the vamp bag.”

“On it!” Benny shouts, reaching under Ethan’s bed and grabbing around for the duffle bag full of vampire weapons, including a couple of holy water blasters, Ethan’s daggers, and a good supply of wooden stakes. 

“Do we--do we really need all of that?” Charlie questions, staring at the contents of the open duffle. 

“Dana wouldn’t hurt anyone. He’s the nicest guy I know...or _knew_ , I guess.”

“I know, but that’s when you knew him,” Ethan says gently, “Vampire Dana may not be the same guy you remember. Most vampires aren’t as nice as Rory and Sarah.”

Charlie glances at Erica with a raised eyebrow. For a second, Erica looks like she wants to complain about being omitted, but after considering it for a second she makes a face of grudging agreement and shrugs.

“I just don’t want to believe that he would ever do anything as horrible as killing someone. I know he’s a vampire, and I know what that means. What if he is different? What am I supposed to do? I love him, you know?” 

“I get it,” Sarah says, “It’s hard at first, but the person you love is still in there. I wouldn’t count him out just yet.” 

She does her best not to look at Erica as she speaks.

Charlie smiles at Sarah’s reassurance.

“Besides,” Rory hops in, “Being a vampire makes you like, way cooler than normal people! I was a total loser before I was a vampire and now I’m awesome! I’m sure your friend turned out cool too.”

“You weren’t a _total_ loser,” Ethan asserts, elbowing Rory gently.

Rory looks a bit surprised at that, but smiles widely at Ethan.

“Not to interrupt the love fest, but are we going or not? I’d like to have some time to grab a bite later,” Erica says, gesturing to the door.

Ethan nods, gathering up the duffle bag. Everyone else files out of Ethan’s room except Charlie. 

“Ethan, I just wanna say thank you. For everything,” Charlie says earnestly, looking down into Ethan’s eyes.

Ethan blushes, awkwardly hefting the duffle bag onto his shoulder.

“It’s what we do. Solving all of Whitechapel’s supernatural problems is our forte.”

“I know. Rory was very thorough explaining that,” Charlie replies with a chuckle.

“What I’m trying to say is that it’s been really cool getting to know you, and if this is it, then I just want you to know that. You know, before I move on or whatever. Not everyone would’ve been so nice to the ghost that’s been haunting them for the last couple of days.” He steps a bit closer to Ethan.

“It’s actually been pretty fun having you around,” Ethan says with a smile, allowing Charlie to step into his personal bubble.

“You have awesome taste in comics.”

“So do you.”

There’s a weird tension to the interaction that Ethan doesn’t want to think about. He knows he’s in love with Benny and Charlie’s in love with Dana, but for all he knows, Benny and Dana are straight. It almost feels like dating a ghost would be the most logical option. Before he can think about that further, they hear someone clear their throat from the doorway. Benny is staring at them with a hard look in his eyes. 

“Come on. The others are waiting.”

“Right, yeah,” Ethan says, speed walking out of the room without looking to see if Charlie is following. Whatever tension was between them had broken at the sound of Benny’s voice, leaving awkwardness in its wake.

They go next door, asking Benny’s grandma if they can borrow her car, not wanting to make the vampires carry them all the way out to Dana’s apartment. She agrees, but only if Sarah is the one to drive. Ethan sits in the passenger seat to help Sarah navigate while the others cram themselves in the back, Erica biting out a mean comment when Rory jostles her.

The car ride is mostly silent, punctuated every so often with Ethan providing directions. Everyone picks up on whatever weirdness is going on between Ethan, Charlie, and Benny. They pull up in front of a surprisingly pleasant looking apartment building. It’s a cheery shade of yellow and looks more like a big house than an apartment, with flower planters placed along the perimeter. They all pile out of the car, looking around. Ethan notices the stone picnic table first. It sits underneath a large oak tree, shaded from the sun. A young man sits at the table, staring back at Ethan with his hand marking his place in his book.

Charlie looks in the direction Ethan is staring in and freezes. He looks exactly the way he did all those years ago, same brown hair and lanky build. 

Dana stands up, and in a flash he’s standing in front of everyone with a snarl on his face.

“Who are you and what do you want?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that was a whole lot of dialogue and very little plot. I promise the next chapter will have more action!


End file.
